Dubing the past winter excavation lias been resumed on the site of Deir
el-Bahari, to the soutli of the great temple of Queen Hatshepsu, in the
previously unexplored tract between it and the southern horn of the semi-
circle of cliffs which encloses the site. This tract was covered with
confused mounds of rubbish, like those which were cleared away from the
great temple in the former excavations of 1893-1899. The mounds,
which rise to a considerable height at the foot of the cliffs, are not merely
the " tips " or rubbish-heaps left by former explorers of the main temple.
These are only on the surface: beneath them is ancient debris, which
certainly has not been disturbed for a very long time. As Deir el-Bahari was
used as a necropolis under the Xlth Dynasty, there was the prospect of
finding untouched tombs of that age, like the fine burial of Buau-Mentu-
hetep met with in the course of the excavations of the great temple in 1890.
Also, there was the possibility that we might discover the remains of the
Xlth Dynasty temple which certainly existed here. Blocks belonging to
it, inscribed with the name of king Mentuhetep Nebkherura, had been
found in former years near the great temple both by M. Mariette and by
MM. Maspero and Brugsch-Bey. The latter hope was fulfilled.

Work was commenced on the 5th of November, 1903. The first
discovery was that of the wall of an inclined plane or ramp, running
parallel with the outer walls of the great temple, at a distance of only a few
paces from the house which was built for the expedition of ten years
ao'o. The stone-work is the same as that of the main temple, and it is
evidently contemporary with it. This ramp-wall ended abruptly in a
confused mass of blocks, but not before it had become evident that the
inclined plane of the ramp was no longer followed, and that the building
was continued in a horizontal line, forming a platform. The erection was
evidently never finished, and the exploration of it, which was subsidiary to